This page covers the efforts to integrate various virtualization technologies into Fedora.

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This page covers the efforts to integrate various virtualization technologies into Fedora. For information on using Fedora as a virtual machine, see [http://os-blog.com/installing-a-fedora-virtual-machine/ Installing a Fedora Virtual Machine].

== Introduction ==

== Introduction ==

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Virtualization allows one to run many guest virtual machines on top of a host operating system such as Fedora. What this means is that using one computer, you can mimic several individual computers and even run different operating systems in each of these virtual machines. There are many different virtualization technologies, including both free and open source software and proprietary offerings.

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Virtualization allows one to run many guest virtual machines on top of a host operating system such as Fedora. What this means is that using one computer, you can mimic several individual computers and even run different operating systems in each of these virtual machines. There are many different virtualization technologies, including both free and open source software and proprietary offerings. A [http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-linuxvirt/?ca=dgr-lnxw01Virtual-Linux good article on IBM DeveloperWorks] Web site illustrates the four main different virtualization families, namely hardware emulation, hardware-assisted virtualization, para-virtualization (PV) and containers/zones.

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Fedora has also long included [http://bellard.org/qemu/ QEMU], a fast CPU emulator capable of virtualizing OS on both native and non-native architectures (such as allowing a PowerPC OS to run on x86_64).

Fedora Core 5 was the first release to include [http://xen.org/ Xen] virtualization, which supports paravirtualization of a modified operating system (OS), or, with hardware support, full virtualization of any native OS. Since Fedora 8, Fedora has not included [[Features/XenPvopsDom0|Xen Dom0 support]], pending the inclusion of said support in upstream Linux.

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Hardware emulation uses a VM to simulate the required hardware. A few implementations:

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* [http://bochs.sourceforge.net Bochs]

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* [http://wiki.qemu.org QEMU]

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Fedora 7 was the first release to include support for [http://kvm.qumranet.com/kvmwiki KVM], which is a hypervisor included in the Linux kernel which requires hardware virtualization support like Intel VT or AMD-V. KVM is currently the main focus of Fedora's virtualization efforts. [http://kraxel.fedorapeople.org/xenner/ xenner] is a utility which allows Xen guests to be run using KVM.

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=== Full Virtualization ===

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[[File:Virtualization_Full.png|200px|thumb|Full Virtualization]]

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Yet another type of virtualization is the containers approach used by [http://openvz.org/ OpenVZ], which can partition a single OS into several isolated zones -- a chroot with much stronger resource isolation.

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Full virtualization uses a hypervisor (a.k.a. VMM, standing for Virtual Machine Monitor) to share the underlying hardware. A few implementations:

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* [http://www.linux-kvm.org KVM]/[http://wiki.qemu.org QEMU] is a full virtualization solution for Linux on x86 hardware containing virtualization extensions (Intel VT or AMD-V). Using KVM, one can run multiple virtual machines running unmodified Linux or Windows images. KVM is part of [http://et.redhat.com RedHat Emerging Technologies (ET)].

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* [http://xen.org Xen] is a virtual-machine monitor providing services that allow multiple computer operating systems to execute on the same computer hardware concurrently. Xen has been the solution of choice for RedHat EL distributions since 2005. The kernel-2.6.18 dropped support for Xen, but the necessary modules/modifications have been added to the upstream kernel again, from 2.6.37 for DomU (guests) and from 3.0 for Dom0 (base domain, part of the host). Therefore, Xen Dom0 host support, that was dropped after Fedora 8, it has now been re-introduced, from Fedora 16 (see [[Features/XenPvopsDom0|Xen Dom0 support]])

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* [http://www.virtualbox.org VirtualBox] is a full virtualization solution for x86 and AMD64/Intel64 hardware. Sun Microsystems started that project, which is now fully supported by Oracle. There is a dual licencing scheme, among which GPLv2. VirtualBox is one of the fastest full virtualization solutions.

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Anticipating this diversification of technology, management applications for Fedora have been built on top of the [http://libvirt.org libvirt] toolkit, which offers a technology independent API for managing virtual systems.

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=== Para-Virtualization (PV) ===

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[[File:Virtualization_Para.png|200px|thumb|Para-Virtualization]]

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== Using Virtualization ==

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Paravirtualization shares the process with the guest operating system. A few implementations:

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* [http://www.linux-kvm.org KVM] (see above).

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* [http://xen.org Xen] (see above).

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* [http://kraxel.fedorapeople.org/xenner/ xenner] is a utility allowing paravirtualized Xen guests to be run using KVM.

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See [[getting started with virtualization]] for an excellent overview to using the virtualization capabilities in Fedora.

Operating system-level virtualization partitions a host into insulated guest, which are therefore as kinds of chroot, but with much stronger resource isolation. Hence, we often speak about containers or zones to refer to that family of virtualization. A few implementations:

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* [http://wiki.openvz.org OpenVZ]... and the Debian-based ProxMox for the off-the-shelf server

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* [http://lxc.sourceforge.net LXC (Linux Containers)]

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* [http://linux-vserver.org/ Linux-VServer], which does not seem to be no longer active (the last news is dated back in 2009)

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See [[reporting virtualization bugs]] for some tips on reporting virtualization bugs to [https://bugzilla.redhat.com bugzilla].

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=== Fedora Support ===

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At time of writing, Fedora includes full support for [http://www.linux-kvm.org/ KVM]/[http://wiki.qemu.org/ QEMU], [http://xen.org/ Xen] and [http://lxc.sourceforge.net LXC].

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If you wish to help triaging and fixing virtualization bugs, [[virtualization bugs]] is a good starting point.

Anticipating this diversification of technology, since the days of Fedora Core 5, all core management applications have been built on top of the [http://libvirt.org libvirt] toolkit, which offers a technology independent API for managing virtual systems.

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To get in touch with Fedora virtualization users and developers try the [http://redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-virt fedora-virt] mailing list or [irc://irc.oftc.net/#virt #virt on irc.oftc.net].

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=== Clouds ===

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As Cloud-based infrastructures rely, by nature, on virtualization technologies, both subjects are therefore heavily inter-related. There is a [[Cloud_SIG |Cloud SIG]] (Special Interest Group) dedicated to the subject, worth to follow as well.

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== Relevant Packages ==

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Here's a catalogue of all the virtualization related packages in Fedora:

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== History ==

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Fedora Core 5 was the first release to include Xen as a core integrated technology. The new Linux native virtualiation, KVM, was introduced to Fedora 7. For a more detailed account of virtualization progress in Fedora, consult the [[Virtualization/History | Virtualization History]] page.

* {{package|qemu}} is a CPU and device emulator; it also acts as the userspace component of KVM

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There is semi-regular coverage of Virtualization news in Fedora Weekly News, and more detailed status updates posted to the fedora-virt Mailing List. For ease of reference, there is an [[Virtualization/News |archive of virtualization news]]

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* {{package|libvirt}} is a toolkit for interacting with the various virtualization technologies

* collected-libvirt gathers statistics from within virtual machines; it is provided by {{package|collectd}}

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* {{package|appliance-tools}} enables the building of virtual appliance images

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* {{package|cobbler}} is a network boot server that can be used to provision virtual machines

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=== Language Bindings ===

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See [[getting started with virtualization]] for an excellent overview to using the virtualization capabilities in Fedora.

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* {{package|libvirt|libvirt-python}}

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A few [[magazine articles on virtualization]] have introductory material as well.

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* {{package|perl-Sys-Virt}}

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* {{package|ruby-libvirt}}

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* {{package|ocaml-libvirt}}

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* {{package|libvirt-java}}

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=== Obsolete ===

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* {{package|kvm}} used to provide the userspace component of the kvm hypervisor. It has since been replaced by [https://admin.fedoraproject.org/pkgdb/packages/name/qemu qemu]

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== Bugs ==

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See [[How to debug Virtualization problems]] for some tips on reporting virtualization bugs to [https://bugzilla.redhat.com bugzilla].

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If you wish to help triaging and fixing virtualization bugs, [[virtualization bugs]] is a good starting point. On the page [[Virtualization Preview Repository]], you shall find informations if you can be a ''potential virtualization tester''.

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== Mailing list and IRC ==

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{{Anchor|Mailing List & IRC}}

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To get in touch with Fedora virtualization users and developers try the [https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/virt virt] mailing list or [irc://irc.oftc.net/#virt #virt on irc.oftc.net].

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== Relevant Packages ==

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We have a page containing [[Virtualization packages|a catalogue of all the virtualization related packages]] in Fedora.

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== oVirt ==

== oVirt ==

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[http://ovirt.org/ oVirt] is a Fedora based project which provides small host images and a web-based virtual machine management console. See [https://fedorahosted.org/ovirt/ the website] to learn more and get involved.

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== Other virtualization information ==

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You can find more virtualization information at the [[:Category:Virtualization|virtualization category page]] on this wiki.

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[http://ovirt.org/ oVirt] is a Fedora based project which provides small host images and a web-based virtual machine management console. See [http://ovirt.org/ the website] to learn more and get involved.

Introduction

Virtualization allows one to run many guest virtual machines on top of a host operating system such as Fedora. What this means is that using one computer, you can mimic several individual computers and even run different operating systems in each of these virtual machines. There are many different virtualization technologies, including both free and open source software and proprietary offerings. A good article on IBM DeveloperWorks Web site illustrates the four main different virtualization families, namely hardware emulation, hardware-assisted virtualization, para-virtualization (PV) and containers/zones.

Hardware Emulation

Hardware Emulation Virtualization

Hardware emulation uses a VM to simulate the required hardware. A few implementations:

Full Virtualization

Full Virtualization

Full virtualization uses a hypervisor (a.k.a. VMM, standing for Virtual Machine Monitor) to share the underlying hardware. A few implementations:

KVM/QEMU is a full virtualization solution for Linux on x86 hardware containing virtualization extensions (Intel VT or AMD-V). Using KVM, one can run multiple virtual machines running unmodified Linux or Windows images. KVM is part of RedHat Emerging Technologies (ET).

Xen is a virtual-machine monitor providing services that allow multiple computer operating systems to execute on the same computer hardware concurrently. Xen has been the solution of choice for RedHat EL distributions since 2005. The kernel-2.6.18 dropped support for Xen, but the necessary modules/modifications have been added to the upstream kernel again, from 2.6.37 for DomU (guests) and from 3.0 for Dom0 (base domain, part of the host). Therefore, Xen Dom0 host support, that was dropped after Fedora 8, it has now been re-introduced, from Fedora 16 (see Xen Dom0 support)

VirtualBox is a full virtualization solution for x86 and AMD64/Intel64 hardware. Sun Microsystems started that project, which is now fully supported by Oracle. There is a dual licencing scheme, among which GPLv2. VirtualBox is one of the fastest full virtualization solutions.

Para-Virtualization (PV)

Para-Virtualization

Paravirtualization shares the process with the guest operating system. A few implementations:

xenner is a utility allowing paravirtualized Xen guests to be run using KVM.

Operating System-level virtualization

Containers-based Virtualization

Operating system-level virtualization partitions a host into insulated guest, which are therefore as kinds of chroot, but with much stronger resource isolation. Hence, we often speak about containers or zones to refer to that family of virtualization. A few implementations:

Anticipating this diversification of technology, since the days of Fedora Core 5, all core management applications have been built on top of the libvirt toolkit, which offers a technology independent API for managing virtual systems.

Clouds

As Cloud-based infrastructures rely, by nature, on virtualization technologies, both subjects are therefore heavily inter-related. There is a Cloud SIG (Special Interest Group) dedicated to the subject, worth to follow as well.

History

Fedora Core 5 was the first release to include Xen as a core integrated technology. The new Linux native virtualiation, KVM, was introduced to Fedora 7. For a more detailed account of virtualization progress in Fedora, consult the Virtualization History page.

News

There is semi-regular coverage of Virtualization news in Fedora Weekly News, and more detailed status updates posted to the fedora-virt Mailing List. For ease of reference, there is an archive of virtualization news